The Tagliente shelter has been used by human groups of hunter-gatherers of the middle and upper Palaeolithic (60.000 – 10.000 years ago) and it seems to have been abandoned about 10.000 years ago. The cave was almost totally obstructed by landslides and was not used again before the middle age, when an entrance was excavated.
The deposits that have been found here document two phases in the use of the cave, which are separated by a layer of abandonment. The most ancient deposit spans between 60.000 and 30.000 years ago and is characterized by Mousterian and Aurignacian stone tools. The palaeoclimatic analyses suggest that this settlement phase corresponds to a full glacial cycle.
The most recent deposit refers to the end of the upper Palaeolithic and is characterized by stone tools belonging to the end of the final Epigravettian (13.500 – 10.000 years ago). The naturalistic data indicate a vegetation typical of dry and cold climates, progressively followed by one of warmer climates with grasslands and conifer and deciduous plants. To this phase pertain some living areas, particularly a burial grave and some art pieces. For this reason the site is of fundamental importance for understanding the middle Palaeolithic and the final part of upper Palaeolithic.